Not only does California have the harshest emissions standards, the strictest gun laws as far as I know, but they also apparently have the strictest standards for products containing potentially dangerous chemicals. Basically that means that Apple is in some deep do-do with the state of California.
Apparently there is too high a level of some plasticizers known as phthalates in the iPhone. So basically Apple has 2 choices, recall all the iPhones sold in California, and then put proper warnings on all future iPhones to be sold, or take it to court and basically face a class action lawsuit propagated by the state of California and including anyone who bought an iPhone in California that wants a piece of the proverbial pie.
I can’t wait till Apple just up and closes its doors and everybody who sued them, or got angry at them, becomes a bunch of whiny little babies because they are no longer around. God knows I wouldn’t put up with all this crap, I’d just walk out, leave a note, “Here’s the keys since you think you can do a better job, PS. I hope you all rot in hell.” Sure, even I got angry with Apple for their latest firmware release, but I still love their products (even though I sadly don’t own a single one, soon though, soon), and I am sure as hell not going to run chemical analysis on a phone.
I’d be willing to wager that Greenpeace and California both probably don’t do this crap to every product, just the ones that actually have some success. The real question is, are these supposedly harmful chemicals, in their likely trace amounts, even at a location where they are accessible to a normal user, or are they inside the casing, where other than being dropped in a liquid there isn’t any other way a person could come in contact with them?
Apple in Legal Hot Water Over IPhone Chemicals [via wired]
For me, the real question is not whether the toxins in any one iPhone will harm any one iPhone owner. It is probably true that iPhone users won’t come into contact with these chemicals while they are using their phones. But, given current practice around technology products, in 10, 15, or 20 years, a good number of the over a million iPhones Apple has sold will likely end up in a landfill somewhere, and at that point all of the nasty stuff inside becomes an issue, even if there are only small amounts in each phone. That’s why I was pretty bummed by the recent Greenpeace report. I think Apple makes the best consumer electronics products on the market and leads the field in terms of design, user-interface, and functionality. Greenpeace probably targets Apple in part because they are in this leadership role, hoping Apple will also take the lead in green technology design as well.